WRESTLING: Sheffield comes back to beat visiting Youngsville

Sheffield continued its charge toward a school record for victories in a season, winning its 11th match of 2012-13 with a 50-30 victory over county foe Youngsville Thursday at Sheffield Area High School.

The win leaves the Wolverines (11-8) just one win shy of tying the previous record for dual victories in a season (12). Sheffield has four dual matches remaining, including home bouts with Johnsonburg (Feb. 8), Clarion (Feb. 12) and Coudersport (Feb. 14).

“We’re one win away from tying that record which is obviously something we’d really like to accomplish,” said Sheffield coach Jack Rice. “I thought the entire team stepped up tonight and battled through some adversity. A couple guys were asked to bump up weight classes and Brandon Johnston did a great job despite struggling with his asthma. We won where we needed to. It was a nice win.”

The Wolverines benefitted from three Youngsville forfeits while giving the Eagles just one in return. Sheffield forfeit wins were logged by Dylan Straw at 195 pounds, Kole Holden at 113 pounds and Thomas Rudd at 138 pounds. The Eagles forfeit victory came from Stone Sivak at 182 pounds.

Thursday’s match started at 160 pounds with Sheffield striking the first blow. The Wolverines’ Steve Gregerson, wrestling up at 160 pounds, needed just over three minutes to pin Youngsville’s Kris Wilcox and make it 6-0. The Eagles struck right back with Zach Ishman pinning Sheffield’s Zack Miller in just 56 seconds at 170 pounds.

The teams traded forfeits at 182 and 195 pounds leaving the match tied at 12-12 before a paif of Eagles wins put Youngsville on top. At 220 pounds, the Eagles’ Jaykup Dulin pinned Sheffield’s Tyler Bertin in 1:04 and heavyweight Austin Slocum needed just 34 seconds to pin the Wolverines’ Jeremy Ehrgott.

Trailing 24-12, Sheffield quickly turned the tide by scoring the next 20 points of the match. The string of five straight wins started with Tanner Barr’s 15-0 technical fall victory over Hayden Victor at 106 pounds followed by Holden’s forfeit win at 113 pounds.

The four-match winning streak continued at 120 pounds with Sheffield’s Ricky Prosen logging a first period pin of the Eagles’ Chandler Flinn and culminated at 126 pounds where Johnston gutted out a 7-2 decision over Youngsville’s Chester Ciukaj.

The Eagles’ Aaron Hoover was able to stop the bleeding at 132 pounds, giving Youngsville a pin in 2:18. However, Sheffield would finish the match with three consecutive victories.

Rudd received a forfeit at 138 pounds, Doug Grubbs earned a first period pin of Tristan Gibson at 145 pounds and Adam Barr finished the evening with a second period pin of Youngsville’s Wyatt Johnson.

“It wasn’t a bad night despite the loss,” said Eagles coach Scott Ishman. “We wrestled with a lot more intensity after coming out flat Tuesday (at Strong Vincent). We were ready to wrestle and showed some promising things out there tonight.

Youngsville (4-10) is off until Wednesday when it hosts Saegertown in the season’s final home match. Sheffield looks for the record-tying victory Wednesday in Brockway.